Project Intelligence: Lai
by ShadowMoonSedai
Summary: In times of peace, great leaders are needed, ones who are trained in diplomacy. However, in war, the need for leaders makes heroes of the worst of us. (included: file 1, file 2, file 3)
1. File 1

This was supposed to be a random shot-in-the-dark fic, but somehow it turned into a rewrite. Go figure. Everything I'm working on, that I should be posting, is at home, and I'm at school. Bleh. So… here it goes.

Project: Intelligence 

            His tiny hangs clung to her bare and bruised arms as she lifted him from the pile of rubble that had buried him so effectively. He looked like every small, toddler age child she had pulled from the rubble since dawn – his eyes were blue like the clear sky over head, and his hair was the bleach blonde that evolution had gifted to all of the people of this Northern Hemisphere village. He was pudgy, but only in the way a small child can be, and, on any other day, he probably would have been clinging to his mother's hand, instead of holding on to his rescuer as if she were his only lifeline. She hefted his weight easily and checked him over quickly, until his eyes caught hers – so much blank, confused fear in them, for someone so, so young. No, there_ was_ a difference between him and the other children she had pulled from the rubble. He was alive, now, and they had not been. She cast a glance at the rubble and shook her head. He was alive, and his family was not. Two points for this one on his scorecard for life.

            "Is he alive, Lieutenant?" The woman lifted her head and nodded gravely. Her companion nodded, in return. He was taller than her slightly less than 5'7", with hair the same blonde as the child's, but with eyes the color of the ravaged dirt they stood on. He saluted her formally. "I've come to make my report, then."

            "Walk with me, Private," she said quietly, as the boy-child in her arms huddled against her chest, hiding his eyes in her shoulder. "Make your report while I take this innocent to the medical tent." The soldier nodded, then saluted again and fell into step beside her quick gait. There was a momentary silence, and he chose that time to take in the full view of the legendary Lieutenant Lai C. Hiltae. She was tinier than he would have expected, but then, most of the female soldiers _were_ on the small side. Her hair was a deep chestnut that shimmered red in some places and she had what would have been considered a pretty face, save for the dust and blood that marred it. One of her smooth, high cheek bones was scratched raw and red, and there was a shallow, albeit clean, gash just above her right eye.

            "Make your report," she said suddenly, and sharply. His attention snapped back and, with an embarrassed cough, he did as he had been ordered. 

            "Several of the townsfolk believe that there was already infiltration by nineteen hundred hours. Estimated times of death for some of the civilians we have found confirms this – they were dead before the initial attack." Lai gave a short nod, as if she had already assumed the same. With her reputation, she probably had. "We also found the one who sent out the distress signal. We have him contained, if you would like to speak with him."

            "Make sure he is well taken care of," answered the woman flatly, "What of the men we captured?"

            "Contained, in a separate section of the city. There were four total, at least that we've found. One… one got away." She never stopped in her walking, but the air around suddenly became thicker, as if it was responding to her sudden change in emotions. As the medical tent loomed ahead of them, set safely at the base of a large, cratered hill, the lieutenant picked up her pace and gradually began to loosen the hold her charge had on her shoulders. All three of them moved in silence, until they were within sight of the guards standing outside of the tent. One was restraining a young woman, roughly the lieutenant's age, who was screaming something and attempting to struggle passed the man into the tent. A nurse was emerging from the heavy canvas flaps and she dutifully ignored the screaming woman and went straight for the damaged child that Lai held. The boy started wailing as soon as he was from her arms and, with a show of great strength, the young woman wrenched herself from the guards arms and intercepted the nurse. The nurse took an instinctive step back and the lieutenant replaced her quite quickly, catching the woman's hands as they reached for the child. There was a wild look in the blue eyes of this poor girl, and Lai half wondered if what they were seeing was truly reality. No, they were seeing what was there, but, in that fact, they had already seen the truest of all realities – death. Death and shadow hung heavy behind the cerulean pools and as she stared down the lieutenant, all the strength crumpled from them. She fell against Lai, sobbing and wailing alternatively. The nurse dodged passed them both and disappeared into the tent, still bearing the squalling child. The two guards stepped forward and reached for the broken girl, but Lai shook her head firmly.

            "I will take her inside," she said flatly. "Return to your posts, gentlemen, immediately." She moved carefully, and scooped up her newest charge in her arms. Although the other girl was at least six inches taller, Lai had no problem taking her into the infirmary tent. A moment later, she reemerged, her shoulders and her jaw set against the fury burning in her eyes.

            "I'll send a relief post in an hour," she said levelly, looking up at both of the guards. "Until then, stay here and assist the nurses if they need it." Both of them nodded, without even the thought of an argument crossing through their minds. 

~*~

            The ground rocked beneath her as, somewhere nearby, another grenade went off. Maybe it was something stronger – the pounding of her own blood filled her ears, muffling the screams and explosions of the battle that had begun, what seemed, only moments ago. Maybe that, too, was a lie. She remembered clearly how it started: the ambush that had waited for so long, hiding in the shadows of the ruined village, suddenly appearing, like the shadows of clouds passing over the sun. All she had heard was the gunfire – she went for the nearest person she could cover, a private, a rookie private even, who had only received her first tastes of war that very morning. A searing pain had ripped into her side, and from then on, all clear thought was muddled. Who was dead, who was alive, even which side she was fighting for, she did not know. The pain was all she could feel, and the ever gentle warmth of her own blood flowing over her fingers.

            The altar rose up out of the ruined ashes as if a monolith to the flames that had once destroyed its surroundings. From the back of her mind came the question of how she had gotten there, when the last thing she had seen was the flames that licked the walls of the makeshift infirmary tent. Her vision blurred and the thoughts fled with a new wash of pain. All she saw was the ground and-

            From the shadow of the altar emerged a figure. It unfolded itself like the very shadow it claimed to be – limbs that were lanky and long, betraying youthfulness the hardness of the face did not tell. It was dressed in black, the shadow, but its eyes were an effervescent violet, the color of the washed sky at sunset. Very slowly, carefully, it stepped down from the steps of the altar, to the crumpled form that lay in a slowly spreading pool. Her pale skin was marred with streaks of blood that was most likely not her own, and the ashes of the charred wood she had fallen onto. One arm, the one that was not clinging so tightly to her own wound, was delicately traced with a tattoo of green, leaves and vines that formed a strong resemblance of ivy. It, the shadow, he reached down and laid two surprisingly gentle fingers against the apex where her throat met her chin. A life beat there, just under the skin, not fluttering as it should have been, but a strong, even pulse that added more onto the shadow's growing list of questions. He wanted to wake her, to ask her himself, but he knew that even this strange creature might not survive much more blood loss. So, with a resigned sigh, he quietly gathered her up in his arms, leaking wound and all, and left behind the decimated church that had so formally introduced them.


	2. File 2

**Project: Intelligence**

_Subject: Lai_

File #2

            It sat huddled against the backdrop of a cloud-ridden sky, a small building that looked like as if some greater building had gotten drunk one night and lost its dinner. It had been there for some years, but never on days like this, blanketed in a grey so dark it seemed endless. Some said the grey was smoke – others, it was merely rain. Regardless, it had hung over the crouched building for some days now, as if reflecting the somber mood inside. It was almost impossible to be happy in a school that looked so sad itself…

            The class was full of students who all seemed to come from the same mold – clean cut, conservative boys and girls, blonde and blue eyed, perfections in Aryan breeding. There were exceptions, of course, a few international students from various countries further south that this Northern snowfield, and a few who were local, but whose parents were not. One of these, at least in name, was Duo. Another was Nashi, his sister… supposedly. The two of them always sat in the center of the class, Nashi sitting closer to her brother than was probably socially acceptable, quiet and almost skittish, and Duo, brash and brilliant, her contrast in almost everyway. Both were on the small side, with hair so red it was almost brown, but while his eyes sparkled like fresh cut gems, hers hung as blue-grey as the clouds outside the windows. 

            "Did you finish that assignment last night?" Duo looked up from where he was a having a quiet conversation with his sister and grinned warmly at the girl, who blushed slightly and shakily held out a pen and a piece of paper. "Will you… help me with mine?"

            "Ask Nashi – she helped me with mine." Did Duo knows this girl's name? He thought maybe he did – Alana, Anika, Brandee…? They all looked the same, it was almost ridiculous. In any case, this one took a crestfallen look onto her pretty heart-shaped face and lowered her gaze.

            "All… right," she said quietly. "Will you help me, Nashi-sama?" Nashi lifted her head from where she was staring at the floor and gave a slow, almost uncertain nod. The girl – Anne? Maybe her name was Anne. Sure, Anne worked – walked around the front of the table and pulled up a chair so that she was sitting next to Nashi. Duo let them go, which was a surprise. His usual way was to watch Nashi like a hawk, though no one knew quite why. They assumed it had something to do with her quiet nature, or maybe the look in her eyes that made her seem hunted.

            "All right, class, let's rein it in." Anne moved her chair slightly over from Nashi and all eyes turned to the young man who had just entered the class. He was dressed almost as they were, in black slacks and white dress shirt, but the clothes were clearly his own and not school issued, like those of the students. He smiled warmly. "I hope everyone's break period was productive – today we're starting right in with Shakespeare and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Did everyone remember to stop by and pick up their books?" No one raised their hand, but Duo moved his chair slightly closer to his sister, who's book was already out on the table before. She glanced over at him, but only raised an eyebrow. "Good. Let's get right into it – do we have an volunteers?" Duo took the book from in front of Nashi and opened it to some place in the middle – he didn't really care where, so long as it looked like he was paying attention. Nashi, in turn, reached out and grabbed the book. The sleeve of her white blouse hitched up slightly on her arm, revealing a small line of green that she quickly covered up when she pulled her book back. Duo heaved a dramatic sigh and leaned over so that he could read over her shoulder. She moved slightly, as well, so that he wasn't truly reading over her shoulder.

            Class passed by quickly, with Duo nodding off against his sister's shoulder, snoring in a way that brought grins to the faces of the people nearby, but that didn't disrupt the class. Nashi only rolled her eyes, and let him sleep. At the sound of the bell, however, she shoved him off of her and reached under her desk for her book bag. Duo, caught unawares by both the bell and Nashi's violence, proceeded to fall off his chair. He scrambled up and glared at her from underneath an arrangement of sleep-tousled bangs. All she did was stick out her tongue in return. The class emptied, save for the two of them and, as if he hadn't noticed they were still present, the teacher shut the door, leaving them completely alone. 

            "How much longer?" she inquired abruptly, slinging the bag over his shoulder. Duo rolled his eyes and shrugged.

            "I really don't know, Laicei," he answered. "I talked with Heero this morning and only one was accounted for. Jeiu." His tongue tripped over the name and he swore. "Jay-u," he repeated, taking his time. All she did was nod. "Meia was located, but she's currently employed in the Hill Organ-"

            "She's _what?_" Nashi lunged at the braided boy, grabbing his shirt in both of her hands and hauling him off his feet. The sleeve of her blouse fell away, revealing the intricate tracing of the tattoo that had, so far, only caused trouble.

            "They don't know," answered Duo calmly, despite the fact that his life was in her hands – literally. "Or, if they do, they haven't made any kind of insinuation to it. She's safe, for now." Lai glowered up at him, but set him down, if reluctantly.

            "And our fifth?" she inquired, leaning her weight against one of the desks. Duo could only shrug.

            "No one knows," he answered. "Every one of the files we have mentions her, repeatedly, but never by name. She's just called "the last one"." Lai frowned and heaved a sigh, shaking her head.

            "Things were easier when all I had to do was order people to blow shit up," she muttered, straightening and brushing her hair from her face. Duo just grimaced. This whole mission hadn't been his idea, and he hadn't really had a choice in the matter – "find the girls with the ivy tattoos," Noin had told him, and then Sally, and then Miliardo. And then Heero, and then Relina, and then – the list was never ending. However, _finding _them all was proving to be hard. There were two who had been easy – they had put themselves in the public eye once or twice before, and their names were listed in "the files", a chaotic jumble of paper and computer disks containing all of the research surrounding them. Lai had been, and still was, a military general; Jeiu was an expert rock climber, as well as accomplished martial artist; and Meia… well,  Meia had been found through some amazing effort of Trowa's, but he wouldn't say what, or who. She hadn't been enlisted by the Preventers, however, unlike Lai and Jeiu. She was still more useful to them under the watchful eye of the enemy. 

            "Another week in this snow hole and we can go home," commented Duo, attempting to fill the awkward, sullen silence that had over taken his companion. Lai lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at him.

            "I want to see those files," she stated flatly, "all of them. Not just the ones your Preventers deem fit for me to see." Involuntarily, Duo felt the blood drain from his face. Those files… _he_ had seen them all. And he wasn't sure Lai was ready for what they said. She was more than what she thought – she had only been told the basics of Project Intelligence. There was a lot more to it, and all of it, _all of it_, made Duo sick in his stomach. 

            "You'll have to talk to Noin," he said finally, attempting to control his voice. "You know I don't have that authorization."

            "Maxwell, you're useless," stated Lai with a disgusted sigh. "Utterly useless."

            "Well, excuse _me_," snapped Duo, his shoulders going tense with his flare of temper. "I can't help it if I'm not some fucking perfect soldier-"

            "No, but you're a perfect fucking moron!" snarled Lai. "A great big moron! You can't even help some teenager with her math homework!"

            "_I'm_ the one who needs to work on her interpersonal skills, you fucking sociopath!" Duo shouted. He heaved a frustrated sigh and threw his hands up in the air. "_This_ is why I hate working with military personnel – you're all about death and violence and blowing up shit and people and everything that you can't even have a proper conversation-"

            "Not that anybody could have a conversation with you, since you never shut the fuck up," retorted Lai sullenly, crossing her arms over her chest. He glared at her.

            "_One_ of us has to talk, otherwise no one would fucking know why we're fucking here!" he hollered, rounding on her. "You're so fucking – agh! You know what you are? You're a fucking freak of nature!"

            "And you're dumb as a fucking brick!"

            "Sociopath!"

            "Git!"

            "Great big fucking-"

            "ARE YOU BOTH ABOUT DONE?!" Both of them jumped, Duo straight up and Lai backwards. They whirled on a figure that was perched on the dais, glaring hard up at them. "For pity's sake – I come here to bring you home and I find you bickering like fucking _children_."

            "Who the _hell_ are you?!" cried Duo, somewhat indignantly at being snuck up on. His eyes darted to Lai, who was standing with a suddenly stupid smile on her face.

            "Jeiu," she breathed lightly, tension seeping from her shoulders. The girl on the dais grinned broadly, tossing her dishwater blonde ponytail over her shoulder. One small curl proceeded to fall back and, when she reached up to brush it away, the ivy tattoo on her arm stood out against her tan skin, in a completely different way than it stood out against Lai's pale version.

            "Noin says you all have been sequestered up here for far too long," she said, her voice losing the angry edge it had possessed a moment before. "I've come to bring you home." 


	3. File 3

Project: Intelligence Subject: Lai 

File #3

            Duo nodded his head in time with the beat of the music blaring in his ears and glanced up from the magazine spread in his lap – across the floor mats, Lai and her-once-lost-now-found best friend, Jeiu, were deep in conversation, both of them straddling a balance beam that rose several feet off the floor. Here in the Preventer's headquarters, the accommodated for every kind of training style, from martial arts, to sword arts, to gymnastics to whatever. Lai _had_ been using the balance beam to practice, well, her balancing, as well as her flips, and, for some reason, a metal sword lay abandoned on the mat beneath her. Jeiu, similarly, had been working on the mats. As an accomplished martial artist, with several national, international, and universal titles under her belt, she was in top form and one of the fastest people Duo had ever seen. However, now she was chatting away with Lai, and neither of them were in the process of getting anything done. Duo, on the other hand, hadn't been doing anything in the first place. His job was to watch them, although they didn't know that was why his presence was there. For all he knew, they didn't even _know_ he was there. Lai had been flat out ignoring him since their little altercation at the school, and while Jeiu seemed friendly enough, it was hard to tell if she was being friends with Duo to be friends with Duo or if she was just friends with everybody. It was all Duo could do to keep from heaving a sigh – if this was what two of them were like, how would things be when all five were together?

            "Duo Maxwell!" His eyes shifted from the two young women to the doorway directly behind them. A young man, one of the rookie Preventers, stood there, waving his hands. "They need you down below!" Duo scrambled to his feet, all lethargy and confusion tossed aside – "they" were important, especially if "they" were "down below". He tossed his magazine to Lai, who scowled at him as he jogged passed her to the rookie. The young man gave a nod and turned to lead Duo back to the destination where he was needed. It was long before Jeiu and Lai both were coming up behind them. Duo couldn't tell them to go back – they were, technically, on the same level as he was, even if they were newer than anybody else in the organization. Plus, if they had only wanted Duo, and no one else, they wouldn't have A) sent a rookie or B) sent a rookie. There was always some measure of discretion that it took the really new ones time to learn. Someone in a higher position would have pulled Duo aside, not caused a scene.

            "There you are, Duo." Sally Po greeted him with a warm smile, then became, as she always was, all business. "We're receiving communications from Meia at the Hill Organization, but we can't decrypt them with the software we have." There was a moment of silence, before Duo tilted his head to the side.

            "Heero's the expert at decryption," he started, but Sally was already shaking her head.

            "Just take a look at it," she encouraged, indicating the computer console against the wall. Duo shrugged, after a moment, and walked over to it. A long computer print out was spread across the keys and dials and it took Duo some time to make all of it out. Then, he laughed.

            "It's a freakin' math algorithm," he stated, shaking his head. "Nice. This girl is definitely a piece of work. Sally, do you have a pen?" Sally handed him one and Duo set to work at once. Math was, after all, his forte, even if the rest of everything wasn't. However, this Meia girl seemed to know what she was going, as well. It took Duo, master of numbers and figures, the better part of fifteen minutes to solve it and, when he was done, he still had no idea what the answer was. It was seven digits long, and the most random assortment of numbers he had ever seen.

            "You might need Heero for this," he stated, as Sally leaned over the page. "I'm not good at pattern decryption." Sally read the numbers out loud, carefully, to herself. Jeiu gave a small giggle.

            "Sounds like my phone number," she commented idly, from where she and Lai were leaning against the wall. Sally bolted up and whirled on the other girl, who blinked. "What'd I do?" Lai took a step forward, placing herself between the smaller woman and the former lieutenant who looked at is Jeiu had just sprouted a horn from the back of her head. 

            "Hold on to that thought," said Sally finally, turning around. Everyone in the room relaxed, until Sally turned back to the computer and swept all of the papers off of the desk. She keyed something in and the entire wall behind the console light up white. A cursor flashed black in the middle of it, and, as they watched, the numbers appeared, one by one. The cursor stopped, and an distinct ringing filled the room. After the second ring, a voice answered.

            "Meia." Duo's jaw dropped and he looked back to Jeiu, who's entire face was blank. Lai's face was contorted in, Duo assumed, contained laughter, and she silently hugged the smaller woman with a grin on her face.

            "Meia, this is the Preventers," said Sally, unable to contain the smile on her face. "What do you have for us?" There was a momentarily silence, then the white became a picture, of a young woman from the chest up, with a small – very small- cat perched on her shoulder.

            "Good afternoon, Preventers," she said, bowing her head formally. The cat made a noise as it almost fell off from the motion, but Meia caught it deftly, setting it back onto its spot. "Who am I speaking to?"

            "This is Sally Po," stated the woman standing at the console, since she was in immediate range on the camera. "You are quite the mathematician, Meia." Meia did not smile, only shook her head, and actually frowned.

            "What I sent you is only part of what can be done by the people working for the Hill Organization," she stated blandly. "I did not design that problem, only tweaked it. All operatives are given secure phone lines, and we send those problems to headquarters to let them know when to contact us. The problem I sent _you_ is for a line secure only to me." Sally nodded and Duo couldn't help but feel impressed. This girl was something else.

            "Look at her," breathed a voice near his ear. He started, and turned, finding Jeiu standing near him, watching the screen intently. "That's Meiana, our Meiana," she said quietly, shaking her head in slow disbelief. "_Our_ Meiana."

            "It's amazing how little she's changed," came Lai's voice, calm, but slightly higher pitched. She stood just behind Jeiu, her arms crossed over her chest, but her eyes as intently trained on Meia as Jeiu's were.

            "Well, at least we know she's the real deal," muttered Duo, to himself. "Three out of five… that's two left."

            "Before I give you any information, I would like some in return," said Meia levelly, reaching up and nonchalantly itching her nose. The tattoo was there, all right, a mass of green lines and shapes, ivy traced on smooth skin. Duo shook his head to see it. Such a pretty picture, with such a horrible meaning. 

            "Tell me about this project," continued Meia, at Sally's insistence. "If I'm a part of it, I want to know why. What. How. Who." She shrugged off the last one, but a strange light flickered in her eyes. Lai walked forward and tapped Sally on the shoulder. The Preventer moved, allowing Lai to step into view of the camera. Meia's hitched breath and partial gasp were heard by everyone in the room. "I know you…"

            "So when are you coming home, Meia?" inquired Lai quietly. "Your sisters miss you." Meia grinned, but it was clear that she was trying very hard to keep from crying.

            "Soon, Laicei, I promise," she answered, scrubbing the back of her hand across her eyes. "Listen, there's something very important all of you need to know," she said, her eyes growing serious and distant. "The Hill Organization _knows_ that all of us are still alive, and they're mounting a group for a full out search. From what I was able to find, there was some kind of… message, left to us by the… scientists." She seemed to be struggling for the words and, at that moment, Duo knew that she knew everything, regardless of her previous request. "There were six of us, not five, and the sixth is a message, instructions, on finding the fifth one. I don't know how, or why, but there's something about the fifth one that happened and was supposed to be kept a secret. It's not anywhere in their notes, as you may know by now, and not even the Hill Organization seems to know where, or what, she is."

            "Do you have any names for us?" asked Lai. Meia shook her head and chewed on her lip.

            "I looked, but all I could find were the four in the notes: Laicei, Jeiun, Meiana, and Aeiani." Her eyes suddenly glared. "Laicei, we need to find Aeiani, and fast. I think they know where she is and if they capture her, there won't be a damn thing I can do. I'm too low level here." Laicei leaned forward on the console and took in a slow, deep breath.

            "We'll find her, Meiana," she answered, "I promise. Until then, are you in danger, if you stay with them? If they're looking for us…"

            "They're going by the notes, that's the thing," said Meia carefully, thoughtfully, "they don't know about the…" she trailed off, then finally motioned with her tattooed arm. "Whatever these are, they aren't in the notes and no one here knows." Lai lifted her head and looked over at Sally with an almost defeated look on her face, except in her eyes. Duo knew that look – he had seen it only moments before, when the auburn-haired soldier had been protecting Jeiu. 

            "Meia." Lai move and Sally stepped into the view of the camera. "Someone will be coming to help you. Don't do anything stupid. We need all of you safe, and alive." At this, Meia grinned and patted the head of the small cat on her shoulder.

            "Donalbain and I are doing fine by ourselves," she answered, "although, actually, I wouldn't mind the help." There was a sound in the background that drew Meia's eyes and she shook her head. "I have to go. Keep in touch." The picture disappeared and a dull dial tone filled the room, until Sally reached over and flipped a switch. Then, all of them stood in silence.

            "We have to find Aeiani," said Lai, finally. "We have to find Aeiani…"


End file.
